Raptors are birds of prey, everything from eagles and falcons to owls and hawks. Every October and November, these birds migrate from the north to the south in search of warmer weather and food. The premier site for watching these migrating raptors in the Western U.S. is in the Bay Area’s Marin Headlands at Hawk […]

The Ferocious Few is a local underground rock duo. They play day and night, on street corners, outside big concerts—basically anywhere they might be heard. And the two musicians are so energetic and tight, it’s hard not to stop and listen. I caught up with them at a recent performance and produced this radio story […]

Published December 13, 2009 in The New York Times Magazine
Imagine robots that obey injunctions like Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative – acting rationally and with a sense of moral duty. This July, the roboticist Ronald Arkin finished a three-year project with the U.S. Army designing prototype software for autonomous ethical robots.

Published December 13, 2009 in The New York Times Magazine
Laura Parker, an artist and agricultural activist based in Northern California, asked a friend late last year to raise a 320-pound pig on his farm to see if its flavor would match that of the dirt it grew up on. In May, Parker and her friends butchered, slow-cooked and ate the pig while smelling soil from the same farm.

I can’t hear the words tall and tale without thinking of my dad, Baine Kerr. I produced this radio story for North Gate Radio’s “Tall Tales” show that aired on KALX radio November 19, 2009. For this show, I got my dad to tell me about the biggest tall tale he knows. The “Tall Tales” […]

Cover story published September 9, 2009 in the East Bay Express
Coach Alonzo Carter tasted fame as a dancer for MC Hammer. But his career was short-lived, like those of many athletes. That’s why he expects his players to succeed in the classroom.

I spent time on the sidelines of one of San Francisco’s pick-up wheelchair rugby games and learned about what it takes to play the game. All of the participating athletes are quadriplegics, which means that they have some type of impairment in their upper body–some have use of their arms, while others don’t. I also […]